I just finished Alchemy of Souls (1-20) and I honestly don't know how to react without hurting anyone's feelings here. I know lots of people loved it, I can see why after witnessing the amazing concept and cinematography, I can understand where the hype came from. The story was set on a period where mages practice magic but forbidden sorceries also exist, and these mages are divided in 4 houses namely Songrim, Jinyowon, Cheonbugwan and Seo. There exist also the royal family that rules the whole Daeho. The royals serve as the balance of the mages but turned out to house sorceries such as alchemy of souls. The late king created a heir thru alchemy of souls with the help of a genius mage Jang Gang. And later, the royals housed the soul of a shaman Choi inside the body of the Queen. Because of alchemy of souls a lot of greedy people became soul shifters that feeds human energies in order to achieve immortality. This prohibited sorcery of alchemy of soul became widely used because of Jin Mu who is also responsible of Naksu transforming into a ruthless assassin.
The episode 1 was a blast! The badass fight scene of Naksu and Park Jin was an all time favorite of mine throughout the whole part 1 of the show. It's just saddening that Naksu was not given such a fight scene afterwards when she was shifted to a Jinyowon's family member's body, Mudeok. The early episodes was explosive with excitement but could not maintain throughout the whole series which was disappointing.
When AoS aired, it was in par with Extraordinary Attorney Woo when it comes to popularity. Although I did not watch AoS when it was airing, EAW gave out a whole show without dullness which proved its worthiness of the hype. Therefore, although they're of different genres, I had huge expectations to AoS due to its popularity as well. It's a shame it did not meet my expectations. Showing off Naksu's power on the first episode truly set a high standard for the next episodes. Too bad they did not plan or probably failed anything to outdo that. But maybe that's just that. Naksu's story ended in the episode 1 and the focus transferred to Jang Uk and the other young mages. Naksu was a favorite character of mine, seeing her getting involved with different kinds of relationships really makes me happy considering that she was once loveless and a ruthless assassin. It's just a waste to think that I cannot see Naksu's power anymore. Jang Uk just ain't enough to bring out that excitement at all.
Wait, she actually got her powers back in the later part but chose not to use it anymore because of her promise. Only when she got controlled by Jin Mu that she went totally berserk. I love that where she's able to use her powers and show us what she's got but it all felt rushed though. Suddenly at the last episode of part 1. Hmmm....
Alchemy of souls part 1, mainly focused on the training of Jang Uk, the development of relationships between mages and masters, the discovery of an existing being with a King's star, the schemes of Cheonbugwan house to gain power and how Songrim tries to correct that, there were small fight scenes after episode 1, and more. These are, what I think, a preparation only to what's about to come in the part 2. It's a minor build up for an explosive part 2. I just hope it won't disappoint.
Overall, I think it's not proper to rate the whole Alchemy of Souls drama without the part 2. Only then I can tell that it's amazing or plainly just a waste of time.
Anyways, I liked a lot of characters, Jang Uk, Mu Deok, Seo Yul, Park Jin, Kim Do Ju, Heo Yeom, Heo Yun Ok and finally the crowned prince Go Won. Ah seriously, I thought I was going to hate the crowned prince for being greedy over power and foolish but he turned out to be a wise and warmhearted man. He's really one of my favorite characters and I hope he would not go astray from this path in the 2nd part of this drama.
Anyways, next part Naksu's gonna be back in her own body!!! But how?????!!! Where is Mudeok!? Now that's really exciting and I can't wait for December 10!!!
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